Digital facilitators need to know what kinds of technologies are available for them and how to use them in the best possible way. Finding the right kind of digital facilitation system helps professionals to facilitate all virtual workshops and meetings.
At the same time the most effective tools for virtual facilitation ensure that all the technologies needed are perfectly aligned and working together. As you might have already noticed, there are now a wide selection of different kinds of options, which means finding the perfect one might get tricky.
Worry not – DCT team is ready to help you. Our team has tested various digital facilitation systems and gathered a list that helps you quickly determine the solutions that would be the best ones for you and your next projects.
Our list included all types of tools that are suitable for facilitating virtual events and workshops. Here you’ll find the best tools for video conferences, communication, white boarding, presentations and so on. Without further ado, let’s get started!
1. Howspace
Howspace is one of the most effective tools for digital facilitation. It is suitable for various kinds of projects and when it comes to facilitating and video conferencing, Howspace is a must.
Virtual facilitating with Howspace is now better than ever, thanks to the Live feature that’s integrated to the platform. This feature lets you facilitate with your own face! There are really not that many digital collaboration tools with this cool feature, so Howspace is now setting the bar for others pretty high.
There is no limitation to the number of video chats per page! This means that you can easily have break out sessions, informal chats and brainstorming sessions with up to 100 participants in the same call!
- Howspace Live is integrated in the workspace
- Up to 100 participants in one call
- Up to 10 breakout rooms in one live session
- Ideal for virtual facilitating
- Only 12 video participants in one call
2. Teams
Teams is part of Microsoft Office 365 package. It’s ideal for collaboration and video conferencing, but it does lack some of the cool features that Howspace offers. For hardcore Microsoft users, Teams is however a great tool that is suitable for facilitators, too. Compared to our number one, Teams is not as versatile, but still a good tool. One thing that bothers us with Teams is the fact that channels cannot be moved between different teams.
- Integrates perfectly with email
- Allows you to share emails and calendars
- Enables video conferencing
- File storage, application integration
- The structure might seem confusing at first
- Building blocks are not that easy to use
3. Zoom
Zoom is probably the most popular cloud-based video and audio communication platform. Compared to Howspace, it lacks many features that you as a facilitator might need. This means that there can eventually be a lot of downloading to do. If that’s not a problem, go ahead and choose Zoom. We love it especially when working with huge groups, but it is a suitable tool for smaller ones for sure, too.
- Up to 1000 participants
- Integrates with Gmail and Outlook
- Upload own images and use as backgrounds
- Possible to record any session
- Enables screen sharing, chats, file sharing
- not as versatile as Howspace or Teams
- Zoom has had some security issues
4. Slack
Slack is a well-known messaging platform with some interesting features. It is popular since with Slack it’s easy to gather all communication nicely into one simple place. Slack is pretty straight-forward, so it is easy to start using even with no previous experience of these types of tools. We have used Slack mainly for short messaging with our customers, but also for communicating with our small teams when working from all over the world.
What we’ve notice with Slack is that even though it is a pretty straightforward platform, it might get messy easily. The channels and discussions can easily get overwhelming, especially if a bigger group of people is using Slack for multiple on-going projects at the same time
- The interface is really simple
- Ideal for small group chats
- Easier than having chats in email
- Insane amount of integrations
- Free plan only for 10 integrations
- Paid plan is super expensive
5. Viima
Viima is a bit different innovation platform. It is all about idea sharing: with Viima workspace you are able to collect and gather ideas from customers and team members. Viima is very easy to start using, even without prior experience of similar tools. It makes developing and refining ideas smooth. We have used Viima with school projects and customer projects, whenever we need to get idea sharing running as fast and smooth as possible.
- Easy to use
- A fresh approach in idea sharing
- Suitable for many projects
- Great pricing
- Not as versatile as other similar platforms
6. Monday
Monday is an open platform for project management, collaboration and all types of other functions that you as a facilitator might need. It’s easily customizable for different needs and it truly is a tool that helps teams and organizations in their operational efficiency. You can visualize data, make projects run smoother and use multiple integrations.
- The interface is very user-friendly
- You can even create videos
- Great color coding system
- Easy to prioritize tasks
- Basic plan is very very basic
7. Clickup
When it comes to project management, tools such as Howspace, Monday and Wrike are our favourites. We have yet two or three more to add to this list, of which Clickup is the second one. This platform is great for many kinds of industries and companies. There are many exciting and effective features that make collaboration, project management and overall communication fast.
Is there that much of difference in Clickup and with Monday or Wrike, if we think of these tools from the facilitation point of view? Not really, you will do just fine with any of of them.
- Can be used as a notepad, too
- Super easy to use
- Cool features to get the platform personalized
- Free plan is quite extensive
- Can seem cofusing
8. Wrike
In addition to Monday, Clickup and Howspace, there’s a great project manager tool that we can recommend: Wrike. It has multiple features that make project management and facilitation easy and efficient. Wrike keeps adding new cool features to its platform on a pretty regular basis which makes it interesting to use. There’s always something new and exciting to discover, also for virtual facilitation.
- Very versatile
- Easy integration and automation
- Easily customized tools
- Not as powerful for facilitating than Howspace
9. Canva
Canva is an excellent tool for all people working around content creation. It can be a valuable tool also for facilitators. With Canva you are able to take your presentations and materials to a whole nother level – even with the free version.
Canva is suitable for all types of teams: files and work spaces can be shared with a simple link. The drag and drop feature can be used for designing various kinds of layouts. You can even design and print business cards, presentations and logos. Plus a lot more!
- Create a personal look to all your materials
- Files can be shared easily
- Free version is packed with cool features
- Image bank is accessed only with paid version
- Svg is available only in the paid version
10. Prezi
With Prezi you are able to create interactive visuals that appear next to you on screen! Compared to other similar tools, Prezi introduces you to a ZUI feature that allows users to zoom in and out while presenting something. Prezi has a lot more cool features than PowerPoint, which probably explains its huge popularity.
At the moment it seems that many Youtubers, Instagram influencers and TikTok users are creating a lot of their content using Prezi. And why wouldn’t they, it’s a simple tool that makes magic happen to your material!
- Plenty of functions and dimensions
- The entire presentation can be moved
- You can add music, too
- Extremely versatile
- Free version of Prezi works only online
- There’s no templates ready
11. Padlet
Padlet was probably one of the first whiteboard platforms that we ran into. As a platform it offers more possibilities than Google Jamboard but at the same time it is simple and easy to use. Padlet is suitable for all kinds of real-time collaborations. The platform is flexible and more beautiful to look at than most whiteboards we’ve seen.
- Posts can be added with just one click
- Copy-pasting and drag and drop with one click
- Super easy to use
- All changes are automatically saved
- Simple link sharing makes collaborations quick
- Not too versatile
12. Google Jamboard
Google Jamboard is another whiteboard platform that complements the Google Workspace. This tool is super easy to use and it enables multiple people working at the same time.
What’s particularly cool about this one is the fact that it’s completely free. On the other hand this means that there aren’t too many special features. For that reason, we recommend Google Jamboard only as a quick tool in group discussions etc.
- Super easy to start using
- A great part of Google Workspace
- Completely free
- Not that many features
13. Moqup
Moqup is another tool that lets you create and collaborate. It comes with special mockups, diagrams, prototypes and wireframes. Real-time work is running smoothly, since Moqup is smart and simple. It adapts to all kinds of needs and workflows. There’s a no time limit in Mocup’s free plan, which is great. On the other hand the paid version is a lot more powerful and suitable for professional use.
- Flexible ecosystem of tools
- Easy to start using
- Simple but effective
- For facilitating you might need othero
14. Asana
Asana is a project management tool that we have gotten to know just recently. In our experience this tool will definitely make facilitation easier and faster. Asana brings teams together in one, simple shared space. Collaborations are easy from everywhere, so this is a great tool for remote work as well. What we love about it the most is the easy-to-use boards and task management. With Asana digital collaboration runs smoothly from start to finish. And it’s not too expensive to start using for even smaller companies.
- Great list view
- Easy to organize and assign tasks
- Excellent Timeline structure
- Spot bottlenecks with Boards
- Not as powerful for facilitating than Howspace
15. Miro
Miro is an excellent online collaborative tool that we too have had the pleasure to work with over the past couple of years. It’s a whiteboard platform suitable for modern work. The tool enables all types of teams to collaborate and communicate across different types of tools, formats, time zones and channels. With Miro you can truly forget about all the restrictions of meeting spaces and physical locations, which means it’s ideal for not only virtual facilitation but for all types of remote projects, too.
- Plenty of functions and dimensions
- The entire presentation can be moved
- You can add music, too
- Extremely versatile
- Free version of Prezi works only online
- There’s no templates ready
Our recommendations
When it comes to the perfect digital facilitation system, the absolutely best tool would be Howspace. There’s no other tool at the moment in the markets that could combine all the most necessary features that you need when facilitating. On the other hand, there’s nothing wrong with combining other tools that we mentioned in this list!